An optimist's journey through thyroid cancer

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The Daily Grind

I realize it’s been a while since my last post- I’m sorry for those who have been waiting! I actually thought my last post was going to be the finale and then I realized I still have some things coming up that maybe ya’ll would like to hear about.

As of now, I’m working at my summer job at home and training for upcoming races and such. I’ve decided my new life goal (to add to my growing list of life goals haha). I want to do a road race in every state! Realistically, I’d like them to be half marathons, but will settle for a 15k or a Spartan Super. So far, I have Vermont and I’ll be crossing off New Hampshire in October! I’ve been seeing these really great U.S scar decals that come with stickers for each state you’ve been too. That would be a fun way to record all my states.

There are some that you can color in as you go too!

I also had my annual physical. I really like my nurse practitioner. She makes sure I’m okay as a person and keeps notes on my social life as well as my medical chart to make sure I’m healthy in all aspects. I was telling her how lonely I felt this year and how I felt a bit abandoned by people. To sum it up, her response went a bit like this

“Cancer in general is a big deal. Just because thyroid cancer has a very high survival rate, doesn’t make it any less scary or meaningful. Many people have a lump removed and that’s that. Others go through chemotherapy and are on medication for a few years and then hopefully go into remission and are all better. It takes a lot of effort for you to get your energy levels up during the day. Not only do you have something for the rest of your life, but your thyroid partners up with other organs and systems so you’ll be dealing with the effects for a long time.”

It was so nice to hear a professional validate me, instead of “don’t worry, this is a good cancer and your treatments is minimally invasive”. It has been (and I think will be) an ongoing struggle for me to come to terms with my cancer as being a very big deal in my life. Having other people stamp out its true intensity and emotional toil really impacts my views on the size of this hurdle. The again, I’ve been noticing this pattern in a lot of accomplishments, and it’s made me question who I have on my cheer leading squad and who should get cut from the team.

No updates in the job front. I did, however, have an interview up in VT with a woman who is renting out a room in her house while she goes through her divorce. Oh. My. Goodness. This lady is so sweet and seems to have some really fun and positive energy. The whole interview process went really well and she even took me back to see her house after our coffee date!

In an attempt to keep some peace of mind, I downloaded an app that gives me daily yoga quotes. Here is what I got today.